Govt. budgets Rs. 1.8 t expenditure in 2017

The Government has budgeted expenditure of Rs. 1.819 trillion for 2017 according to the Appropriation Bill 2017 published in the Gazette yesterday whilst the limit on borrowings for 2017 has been set at Rs. 1.489 billion.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayaka said on Tuesday that he would present the 2017 Appropriation Bill to Parliament next week followed Cabinet approval earlier this week.

Allocation to the President’s Office which was down to Rs 2.3 billion in 2016 is up to Rs 7.4 billion for 2017. Of this amount around Rs 1.9 billion will go towards recurrent expenditure while the rest will be for operational and development activities under the President’s Office.

The allocation for the Ministry of Education is up to Rs. 77 billion from Rs. 47.6 billion in 2016. Allocations to the Defence Ministry is down from Rs. 306 billion in 2016 to Rs. 284 billion, of which around Rs 251 billion will be for recurrent expenditure and Rs 32.2 billion as capital expenditure.

‘Koley iragena angey halaganta epa. Londery hathakinn suddda karanta behe’ is the advice in pithy Sinhala idiom, the President offered to his critics and opponents in a recent homily delivered at Nikaweratiya.